Read a full match report of the Europa League round of 16 game between Steaua
Bucharest and Chelsea at the National Arena, Bucharest on Thursday 7 March
2013.

Chelsea’s season keeps getting harder. The European champions, whose defence ended earlier than any previous holders, are now in danger of dropping out of the booby prize early too.

A 1-0 first-leg defeat to Steaua Bucharest is not irreversible next week at Stamford Bridge, but to the players, manager and owner of a proud club it was another embarrassment in a chastening season.

It will also further test faith in Benitez, who rotated his squad ahead of Sunday’s FA Cup tie at Old Trafford, but against committed opponents backed by a fiercely partisan crowd found himself short of a cutting edge.

Benitez made five changes from the side that beat West Bromwich Albion last Saturday and saw two of them exposed. Steaua’s goal came courtesy of a penalty conceded by Ryan Bertrand, selected ahead of Ashley Cole, and Juan Mata’s replacement Yossi Benayoun failed to take Chelsea’s best chance of the game.

In a game of few clear chances on a poor pitch they were costly mistakes. Chelsea may not relish the Europa League but no one could accuse Steaua and their fans of not taking it seriously.

As Champions League winners, Chelsea have a target on their back, and by the end the 54,000 inside the National Arena were in raptures as their team did a lap of honour.

The exception was a knot of several hundred Chelsea fans who had no chance of making their displeasure heard above the din.

This result will not have changed their view of Benitez, but the other glaring flaw in this side, Fernando Torres, is not a problem of his making.

It is not news that Torres struggled to make an impact — he has now scored just once in 18 appearances - but it is barely credible that despite the millions at Chelsea’s disposal they have only two strikers, and only one eligible for this competition.

Benitez said that he had no regrets about making changes as his squad clocked up their 50th game of the season, and argued tenuously that the penalty award was harsh.

Bertrand was penalised after being caught on the wrong side of Raul Rusescu, and throwing his arm across the striker’s chest to block his attempt to get on the end of a cross.

Referee Sergey Karasev did not hesitate to award a penalty and a yellow-card, though there was a clear case for red, a point Steaua’s coach Laurentiu Reghecampf made after the game. Rusescu picked himself up and drilled the spot-kick confidently past Petr Cech’s right hand.

“I think it was a difficult game, a great atmosphere for them, and a soft penalty,” Benitez said. “Their goalkeeper made some good saves and, obviously, we have to do our best at Stamford Bridge.

"It will be difficult because they are well organised and are good on the counter-attack but we have to have confidence that we can do well at Stamford Bridge.”

He defended Bertrand, and said his side created the better of few chances: “Ryan was playing before, against Sparta Prague, and was doing really well.

“We didn’t create many chances ourselves, but they weren’t either. If you consider that Petr [Cech] wasn’t making any saves, it was their goalkeeper who was actually making the great saves.”

After narrowly overcoming Sparta Prague it was immediately obvious Chelsea faced a challenge of a different order here.

Tickets for the game sold out in five hours and the hostility was evident when Chelsea emerged for the warm-up with the stadium only a third full.

The atmosphere was revved up even more before kick-off as the giant screens showed highlights of Steaua’s win on penalties against Ajax in the last round, a warning of their quality.

Chelsea came under immediate pressure but gradually asserted themselves.

John Terry, restored to the team, and David Luiz were busy but effective in protecting Cech, and Chelsea had the home team at arm’s length when the first moment of genuine quality brought the goal. Benitez had identified full-back Iasmin Latovlevici as a threat before the game and his wonderful cross, fired in with the outside of his left foot, was enough to expose Bertrand.

Chelsea came close in the 38th minute when Ciprian Tatarusanu saved well from Benayoun whose rolled finish was accurate but lacked the pace to beat the goalkeeper.

With Chelsea struggling as an attacking force, Benitez inevitably called on Mata with 25 minutes to go, and then Marko Marin for Hazard.

It almost did the trick. Marin worked an opening in the 82nd minute, cutting inside Latovlevici. His shot from a narrow angle was firm but straight at Tatarusanu. David Luiz came close with a free-kick from 35 yards shortly afterwards but it dipped over the bar, on a similar trajectory to Chelsea’s season.